Chapter 2: Does this website apply to me? Part II
From the symptoms alone, can you tell if they are caused by disease or injury or by PPD? Usually not definitively, but often there are helpful clues. Check the list below. The more of the features that you have, the more likely your brain is involved in generating your symptoms.
Just walking into a medical office with an undiagnosed symptom gives you a 40% chance for the cause being in the brain (ie PPD).
If diagnostic tests don’t show any disease or injury to explain your condition, then the probability of the brain being the cause goes much higher.
The doctor gives your condition a label that doesn’t explain how the symptom is created (such as irritable bowel syndrome, migraine, fibromyalgia and many others) or how it links to a diseased organ or an injury.
You are given a diagnosis that contains the words idiopathic, cryptogenic, or atypical which mean there is uncertainty about the cause of your condition.
When you check your diagnosis with a reputable source (such as the National Institute of Health or WebMD) the validity of that diagnosis is questioned, or the cause is listed as unknown.
You have an abnormality in your body in the same area as your pain or illness, but the same abnormality is common in people with no symptoms, so it isn’t clear if the abnormality is causing your condition. For example, among people over the age of 40 who have no symptoms, abnormal spinal discs are present in more than half.
You are not responding to treatment as expected.
The more symptoms you have and the more different they are from each other, the more likely it is that the brain is causing or contributing to them.
Your symptoms move from place to place in your body.
Your symptoms get worse when you are under stress or thinking about a stress that will or might happen soon.
Your symptoms improve when you are engaged in enjoyable or distracting activities.
Your symptoms are less severe or less frequent when you feel safe.
You are sensitive to certain foods but don’t have the same reaction every time.
Even a light touch on your body can trigger symptoms.
Earlier in your life you had symptoms that your physician struggled to diagnose.
Your pain or illness is relieved with Pain Relief Psychotherapy (this confirms the diagnosis of PPD).
We are not done with the clues to PPD. See the next chapter for more.
Chapter 2 Videos
PPDA Co-Founder Alan Gordon, LCSW created the following two videos that also provide a helpful introduction.
